Citywide, the average high school student’s commute to school—by subway, bus, or foot—in school year 2011-2012 was estimated to take 32 minutes. In comparison, the commutes for city residents to jobs in the five boroughs averaged 39 minutes in 2012.
More than 1 in 5 high school students had commutes of 45 minutes or longer.
There was significant variation across census tracts in the share of students with longer commutes, reflecting both access to transit and school choice preferences.
The city’s Department of Education allows “hardship transfers” for high school students with commutes of more than 75 minutes. Less than 3 percent of high school students had commutes that long in school year 2011-2012.
The Geography of Student Commutes Longer Than 45 Minutes to School, School Year 2011-2012
Prepared by Asa Wilks New York City Independent Budget Office
SOURCES: IBO analysis of Department of Education Data, American Community Survey
NOTES: Calculations based on GoogleMaps estimate of trip times as of January and February 2014 between each student’s home and school address. Calculations reflect commuting time during business hours for students attending New York City high schools during the 2011-2012 school year. Trip duration includes walking time.
The amount the city budgets each year for snow removal is set by a formula in the City Charter. The formula is the average of spending on snow removal in the five prior years—so the budget for 2014 is based on the actual amounts spent in fiscal years 2008–2012.
In some years the formula provides more funding than is needed while in other years, such as 2011 when the city had an extraordinary amount of snow, the formula-driven budget fell $87 million short of need. The formula budgeted $13 million more in 2012 than the city needed for snow removal and $19 million more in 2013.
If there is unused funding in the snow budget, that money is reallocated or becomes part of the city’s end of year budget surplus. Conversely, if the budgeted amount is short of what is needed, funds are drawn from other parts of the city budget to cover the expense.
When Mayor Bloomberg presented his last budget plan in November, he noted that the city’s full-time and full-time equivalent headcount had fallen by 15,368 since December 31, 2001. But looking at staffing levels since the end of fiscal year 2002, which marks the beginning of Mayor Bloomberg’s first full-year budget, the numbers are somewhat different.
From June 30, 2002 through June 30, 2013, city staffing decreased by 9,028 positions and totaled 295,894 by the end of fiscal year 2013, a 3.0 percent decline.
For many agencies, there was little change in staffing from June 30, 2002.
Two areas of the budget accounted for the largest decrease in staffing, the education department and uniformed services.
The largest decrease—4,607 positions—occurred in uniformed services, including 1,986 police officers (a decline of 5.4 percent), 1,141 fire fighters (10.1 percent) and 1,645 correction officers (15.5 percent).
The education department saw a decrease of 4,496 positions (3.3 percent), of which 2,528 were teachers and professional staff.
